


With Great Power...

by obscureenthusiast



Series: One-Shot Challenges [3]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/F, Jadzia is upsetti, Kira is SAD and this has a bittersweet ending, LISTEn this turned angstier than I planned but OH WELLLLL, and not the shitty 90's x-men/next gen crossover novel that actually happened, don't @ me for the title I'm just a fucking idiot comic book nerd lmaoo, look the simple explanation is that I kind of made some Bajorans x-men, look there's just a lot of upsetti characters let's be real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-28 02:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20418200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obscureenthusiast/pseuds/obscureenthusiast
Summary: Kira has known she's different for a long time now... but now her secret is out to most of the DS9 senior staff and she has to deal with the fallout... and the fear of the unknown, and what that might mean for her and all others like her.------Part of a biweekly prompt challenge!! The prompts for this week were "superpowers" and "starfleet mandated trust/efficiency exercise group class after a failed performance review", so I went with superpowers!





	With Great Power...

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy my lame x-men ripoff! ^_^

Julian traced the laser scalpel over Kira’s skin, his eyes growing wider with every moment that her skin remained unbroken. 

Kira rolled her eyes, sighing.

“Are you done, doctor?” she snapped.

Julian pulled the scalpel away and nodded, seeming to realize himself.

“So, how long have you known about this ability?” Captain Sisko asked.

Kira shifted awkwardly under his gaze. Beside him, Jadzia and Worf stood, both their expressions unreadable. Worf’s face was a mask of the dutiful Starfleet officer, while Jadzia’s…

She just looked cold, avoiding Kira’s eyes as she looked over the data coming through the medical scans.

It was what Kira deserved, she supposed. She’d been hiding this big secret all this time.

Kira swallowed and cleared her throat, finally answering the captain’s question:

“The Occupation. You start to notice real fast when phaser fire doesn’t hurt you, when knives don’t… cut you,” she hesitated, “When the weapons that are killing all your friends aren’t killing you. Or even hurting you.”

Julian sat down in the chair next to the medical bed, his eyes bright with fascination, “Your skin is practically impenetrable, Kira, but it’s also your… your entire body. Your muscles are almost as dense as a Vulcan’s, your-”

“I know all that, okay?” Kira interrupted, her hands tightening into fists as she moved to put her feet over the side of the bed, “Now, can you just stop treating me like a laboratory experiment for a second!”

Julian sat back, letting out a soft breath, “Sorry,” he murmured.

Kira took a shaky breath and looked around, her entire body stiffened with pent-up anxiousness.

It was just… the medical bay. The scans, the scalpel, the sounds. All the eyes that were on her all at once, watching her like she wasn’t a _person_ anymore.

Julian leaned in once more, his voice softer.

“Who did this to you, Nerys?”

For a second, she was surprised by his gentleness. She glanced over and caught his eye and his expression said it all.

Kira could see the scared kid he’d been in the set of his brows. She could see it in the way his lips quivered just a little as he watched her. She could see the version of him who’d been torn apart and augmented and put back together over and over again just to appease someone else.

She shook her head a little, whispering, “It wasn’t like you.”

He let out a relieved breath and reached out a hand, which Kira took in her own after a half-second of hesitation. In that moment, he wasn’t her doctor anymore he was just… Julian. Her friend.

“Something happened to us during the occupation,” Kira explained quietly, too afraid to look around her as she did. Her eyes stayed focused on the floor, “Some people think it was… something the Cardassians did. Experiments. Adding things to the food, the air, the water. Some people say it was mutant gene expression caused by stress… but no one knows for sure.”

She shrugged a little, a sad smile tugging at her lips, “There’s not a lot of us. The… _expression _of whatever this is seems to vary wildly from person to person, at least it has in all the others I’ve met.”

“So, there _are_ others?” Jadzia asked.

Jadzia’s voice was enough to shock Kira into looking up from the floor. The Trill was standing near one of the medbay screens, but she wasn’t looking at it anymore. She was looking over at Kira, and for just a moment the coldness in her expression broke and she looked _pained_.

Kira’s mouth went dry and she wanted to say a thousand apologies. She wanted to explain to Jadzia about the fear and the shame that she’d felt for being this way. She wanted to tell her why she’d hidden this from her friends and why, even now, the fact that they _knew _scared her to her core.

Instead, though, she wet her lips and murmured, “A few. Assuming they survived the occupation.”

Captain Sisko tilted his head, “And does the Bajoran government know about all of you?”

Kira sighed, “Yes.”

“Then why has the Federation not been informed of your existence?” Worf cut in, crossing his arms.

“During the occupation, we hid from the Cardassians because we didn’t want them dissecting us…” Kira said, a knife’s edge of iciness slipping into her tone, “Can you honestly say that the Federation has a much better track record when it comes to people with superhuman abilities? We just got our freedom back and in the eyes of a lot of Bajorans, the Federation may just be the next occupation in disguise.”

Worf stiffened, “The Federation-”

“Has locked up Augments for years,” Julian interrupted, turning his head to give the Klingon a level gaze, “And I know of at least one section of Starfleet who would be all too happy to run tests on someone they thought might be a super soldier.”

Worf’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. He merely nodded his head once to acknowledge Julian’s words.

Captain Sisko took a breath, “I understand where you’re coming from,” he said slowly, “but you have to recognize what a difficult position you’ve put me into. If I don’t inform the Federation of this now that I know…”

He let his sentence trail off unfinished and Kira nodded. 

She looked at the captain with as much bravery as she could muster, “I trust you to make the right decision, Benjamin.”

Sisko sighed and looked around the room carefully before he spoke.

“And I trust you all to keep this under wraps until I make my choice.”

There was a chorus of murmured “yes, sir”s and Sisko nodded once, satisfied. He turned his attention back to Kira and she could see him squaring his shoulders, as if he was bracing himself to ask his next question.

“Do you know of any others like yourself currently living on the station?”

She frowned at him, her tone immediately turning defensive, “Captain-”

Sisko lifted a hand to stop her, his tone gentling as he added:

“I know. But I have to ask.”

Kira shook her head firmly, her jaw tightening, “No, captain. I don’t know of any others.”

Sisko nodded and looked to the rest of the room, softly dismissing them all. 

And Kira swallowed down the quaking sensation in her stomach, the lump in her throat, from having to lie to her captain’s face.

Julian’s hand squeezed hers for a half-second before he released her, moving quietly back to work. She managed to give him a half-smile before she pushed herself off the medical bed. 

Kira felt numb as she walked out the door, her eyes staring down at the floor as her mind shifted through too many thoughts to manage. It wasn’t until she noticed a second pair of shoes falling into step beside her own that she looked up.

Jadzia didn’t look at her, but she was clearly deliberately walking alongside her.

Kira felt her heart stop at the distant coldness in Jadzia’s eyes.

“I’m sor-” she started, but Jadzia cut in.

“You know, I always worried about you,” the Trill said matter-of-factly, still keeping her gaze resolutely forward, “When you were off on away missions, I mean. I always thought that your… habit of running into danger was dumb bravery, but now…”

Kira grabbed Jadzia’s arm and tugged them to a stop, turning the taller woman to face her.

“I didn’t want to lie to you,” Kira said, a raw edge to her voice as it threatened to crack, “But trying to tell you was like…” she floundered for words for a moment, shaking her head, “Like going against every instinct in me. I was _scared_, Jadzia. Not of you, never… never you.”

Kira blinked and carefully released her hold on Jadzia’s arm, realizing she’d been holding onto Jadzia as if her life depended on it. She took a breath and a half-step back. 

“I was scared of… me. Of what people might do if they knew.” 

Jadzia’s brow was furrowed, her face twisted in slight pain as she took a breath, shrugging at Kira.

“This power you have doesn’t frighten me, Nerys,” she whispered, “The fact that you _lied_. So consistently for so long… _that_ is what scares me.”

Kira looked away, her breath catching as she tried to inhale, Jadzia’s words hitting her like a punch to the abdomen.

“But I understand,” Jadzia continued, “I know what it’s like to be terrified by something inside of you. I know _why_ you lied, but that doesn’t make it easier to accept right now.”

Kira sighed, feeling unexpected tears rising like heat to her face.

“I’m sorry, Jadzia.”

Jadzia reached out and placed her hands on Kira’s shoulders, squeezing softly, and Kira could see the shine of tears in her eyes.

“You are my best friend,” Jadzia whispered, “And I will be here… but right now I need time to process this.”

Kira nodded, wetting her lips as she reached up to brush some tears out of her eyes before they could fall, sniffling a little, “Take whatever time you need.”

Jadzia sighed and pulled Kira in for a quick hug that was over far too quickly. Kira wanted to hold onto her. She wanted to keep hanging on. 

But Jadzia was already gone. Her long legs walking her swiftly down the corridor and away from Kira’s reach.

Kira walked more slowly, heading for the Promenade at her own pace, breathing deeply in and out in an attempt to slow her own heart and racing thoughts.

As she wandered the walkway, looking down over the bustling shops below, she felt a familiar presence bumping up against her thoughts. 

“_Well, that didn’t go particularly poorly_,” Leeta’s voice said, as if she were standing right next to Kira.

Kira snorted and glanced in the direction of Quark’s, where she could just see Leeta working at her Dabo table, laughing and carrying on conversation with the patrons. 

“_It could have gone better_,” Kira thought, sighing out a breath.

Leeta hummed thoughtfully through the telepathic link, “_I checked on the captain. He’s not sure he believes there aren’t more on the station. But he wants to believe you_.”

Kira leaned on the walkway railing, still looking down at Leeta with half-amusement. 

“_I thought I told you, no reading minds without permission_.”

Leeta chuckled ruefully, “_And I thought I told you, no throwing yourself in front of phaser blasts. It’s a bit suspicious when people see you doing that._”

Kira rolled her eyes, grumbling aloud under her breath, “Fair point.”

Inside Quark’s, the crowd around Leeta’s table suddenly let out a cheer of “Dabo!” and Kira could see Leeta laughing, clapping for the win even as she turned her gaze over to where Kira was standing on the walkway. 

Kira could only just make out the edge of a smirk on Leeta’s face as she heard, in her mind:

“_Jadzia still loves you. That hasn’t changed_.”

Kira huffed, thinking back, with firmness, “_I told you to stop reading her thoughts._”

Leeta was forced to look away, returning to her duties, but that didn’t stop her from replying.

“_I didn’t read her. Didn’t need to, it’s rolling off of her in waves so obvious even a blind tyrfox could see it,_” and here Leeta glanced over once again, for just a second, “_So obvious even _you_ have to know about it. Don’t pretend you don’t love her, too._”

Kira shook her head and continued on her walk down the Promenade.

“_It’s more complicated than what I want, Leeta._”

Before Leeta could respond, Kira concentrated on the image of a door closing, locking her mind. Leeta’s telepathy was powerful and she could easily have broken through it, but Kira knew she wouldn’t. Despite her jokes about reading everyone’s minds, Leeta _did_ have the utmost respect for boundaries. 

And right now Kira just needed some time to herself. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!!


End file.
